Wen Shi also knew she felt something pulling her north. She did like to travel, but there was something else going on with her. Something about this entire situation felt completely foreign. She decided to take a chance and steer the conversation in another direction.
“I’m Wen Shi by the way. Why are you here?”
“Just because I enjoy traveling to new places—I’ve always wanted to see what Iceland has to offer.”
“No, I mean Earth. You and your friend,” Wen Shi said while nodding in the direction of inn.
A look of pure horror melted over the woman’s face, which quickly changed to one of satisfaction. “Well, if talking to someone from another planet intrigues you, I’m not going anywhere. What gave me away?”
“Too many oddities about you. Anyway, the message said the visitors would be contacting individuals—am I one of them? Is that why I’m being pulled to this place?”
The woman frantically whipped her head around, scanning the surrounding area. “Let’s go inside where we’ll have more privacy. I can explain everything.”
“Lead the way.” Wen Shi spoke softly, but felt nothing but a serene confidence that whatever was about to happen was somehow right.
* * *
Lugh was watching the local COPUOS broadcasting station when Vili returned, barking information as he entered.
“Lugh, we’ve found another Descendant outside.”
Another Descendant? Lugh stood up from a burst of exhilaration. “Great! Where’s your team? Loki and Sigyn, right?”
“Sigyn is initiating contact with the Descendant. Loki didn’t arrive with her.”
Vili’s voice didn’t falter at the end of the statement, but Lugh had a suspicion something wasn’t right. He was about to follow-up, but a knock at the door broke their conversation.
Vili opened it and moved out of the entrance way, allowing two women to enter. Lugh immediately focused on the woman he guessed to be Sigyn. Her hair was tied in a bun on her head; a few long strands of her dirty-blonde locks fought themselves lose and hung down by her temples. Who knew aliens could be so attractive.
“This is Vili. I’m here with him—Vili, this is Wen Shi. She deduced our extraterrestrial origins within a few mere minutes of conversation,” Sigyn said, disbelief lingering in her voice.
“Wh—really? Impressive. We have a lot to discuss,” Vili replied.
Lugh gawked at Sigyn as she left the kitchen and made her way toward him, allowing Vili to speak with Wen Shi.
“Lugh, I’m Sigyn. I’m sure you have a lot of questions. How are you feeling since we unlocked the dormant structures within your DNA?”
It took Lugh a second to find his tongue. “Uhh, yeah, hi. I feel great. It’s not just mental changes, but physical too,” Lugh said as he lifted his shirt to show her his torso. That might have been a bit too obvious…
Sigyn smirked. “Good for you. Any questions about what’s going on?”
Lugh’s head was swirling with questions just minutes ago, but at that moment all his mind wanted to do was focus on was Sigyn’s petite frame and soft voice. “Yeah, tons. I uhh…the blood…how did the DNA…”He took a breath. “So I come from a bloodline of people that not only held these dormant super genes, but also passed them down without error to each generation?”
“Essentially. Some of your ancestors likely didn’t mate with humans who held the full package of super genes and, thus, didn’t pass down the complete set of tampered DNA to all of their offspring. The question of how the number of Descendants on Earth has changed over time is a complicated one, as it involves various probabilities, such as which parts of the parents’ chromosomes were passed to children, the number of children each generation had, and the probability individuals mated with others that possessed at least some of these genes. While there is a very slim chance that any human possesses the full package of tampered genes today, our simulation suggested that the number of individuals with enough of these dominant super genes to make a physiological difference stayed roughly constant over time.”
“What about mutations in the DNA? Isn’t that how evolution works in the first place?”
“Yes, but many of the Primordials protected these strands when they were initially synthesized within the human genome. They used a system of viruses, antibodies, and antigens to mark bloodlines and preserve their tampering. Some of those substances should still be in your system, working to conserve the dormant DNA when copied.”
“What do you mean ‘mark?’”
“Oh, just that given the number of Primordials on Earth experimenting on humans they needed a way to identify their research groups’ subjects, so they devised a system to mark humans down to their cellular level.”
“Are you talking about blood types? Like ‘AB,’ ‘O,’ and all that?”
“I…don’t know. It’s possible that some of that biotechnology could be used to distinguished human blood types. Are you saying humans categorize each other by their blood?”
“No, no. Not exactly. It’s just that doctors need to make sure patients’ blood types match before blood transfusions or organ transplants.”
Sigyn took a step forward and smiled wide. “That’s fascinating. If we get a chance to talk among all this chaos I’d like to hear more.”
Lugh suddenly felt very warm. “Absolutely!” I better study up on biology.
“I’d also like to discuss the legends humans have about the Aesir. None of us were aware they existed. The stories potentially offer interesting and relevant information.”
“I researched the Norse religion while Vili was gone. In short, most of the original, detailed information—stories and gods in the mythology—have been lost. Much of it was never written down. Only after the religion began to disappear, due to the Christianization of Scandinavia, were some of the tales scribed.”
Sigyn interrupted, “Christianization?”
Lugh stopped, embarrassed, “Another, larger religion was becoming global and supplanting smaller, local religions. Anyway, rare written references, mostly in poetry form, that generally distort or obliquely reference the mythology, exist prior to the introduction to Christianity; however, even when the religion was practiced it lacked a canonical text.
“In the handful of stories that are known today, from only a few main sources we have, contradictions exist.”
“How long ago were these legends officially recorded?”
“Roughly 800 years ago, but pictorial evidence dates back further.”
“These conditions are suspiciously suited for forgery. The Olympians could have distributed various forms of these ‘Aesirian myths’ over a conquered region that had an older religion mostly told in carvings and images, allowing the new stories to over-write the original for the rest of the world.”
“What would the Olympians gain from that, though?” Lugh yearned for a solid explanation; he didn’t want to learn that he had been fooled into helping aliens with nefarious intentions. He had a gut feeling to trust the Aesir, but he needed to rationalize it.
“I don’t know. It’s possible the Olympians planned to use those stories as blackmail against the Aesir. We began to integrate into their society around the same time as the Norse folklore was written down. If our assimilation into their culture caused problems, they could have pointed to these tales as evidence we broke Olympian law by experimenting on humans; thereby having a justifiable reason to kick us out—or kill us—without risk of backlash from their public.
“I’ll have a better idea once I can read through the stories. You’ll need to show me how to access them after Vili decides our next move,” Sigyn nodded in the direction of the kitchen.
Vili and Wen Shi were finished talking and headed toward Lugh and Sigyn.
* * *
Wen Shi made sure to make eye contact with both Vili and Sigyn before speaking. Her intuition rarely, if ever, failed her, and her subconscious believed these aliens were honest and harmless, but that didn’t mean her ration
al mind didn’t have concerns.
“Ok. Vili explained everything to me. My first question is why do we need help?”
“What do you mean? The Olympians are running experiments on you. They control your fate, and will likely terminate you when their experiments are finished,” Vili replied.
“Are you sure? We’ve never noticed the experiments before, so I’m not sure that alone is a compelling reason to trust the Aesir and agree to fight against gods. And based on what you said, how would their Council and military hide our demise from the rest of Olympia? It seems they would eventually let us initiate contact and treat us like they’ve treated the Aesir.”
Vili dropped his voice and tilted his head forward. “You think living under the rule of beings that not only believe they’re superior to you, but have demonstrated unspeakable cruelty in the recent past, is reasonable? That’s insane.”
“You said all that happened nearly one thousand years ago. Humans have demonstrated our ability to make unbelievable ethical strides in one tenth of that, and we aren’t anywhere near the ‘pinnacle of evolution.’”
Sigyn interrupted the conversation. “You’re applying human timescales to Primordial longevity. Their cruelty to us and other ‘Lesser’ species occurred an equivalent of what you’d perceive as five years ago.”
Wen Shi paused, her confidence in her argument faltering slightly. “That’s a fair point. Still though, one thousand years is a long time and I don’t think your comparison of timescales completely captures reality.”
“True—” Sigyn said, but was cut-off by a passionate Vili. “We’re getting off topic. If you decide to live under Olympian rule then your species is left with two options: die at their hands or grovel at their feet. If they allow you to grovel, they’ll first want to delay contact with you. They’ll do so by artificially dampening your technological progress, or releasing some devastating virus that will keep you pre-occupied until they think their public can handle another Aesirian-like species sharing the same sector of space.
“Once the Council feels Olympia is ready, they’ll allow you to reach out to them, but then they’ll end up ruling over all humans. They’ll declare your laws dangerous and impose their own.”
Lugh spoke up as soon as Vili finished. “And how does all this change now that humans know we aren’t alone? How will Olympia react?”
“Yes, good point. Everything I discussed were scenarios under the assumption humans continued living in ignorant bliss. Now that my team and I dropped the shield around Earth, you’ve seen you aren’t alone. The Council will be forced to act quickly, and that doesn’t bode well for Earth.”
Wen Shi quietly stood before the three united beings, weighing her options. At this point, I think Earth’s hands are tied, and I still don’t get the feeling I’m being lied to. “Ok. Either way, I think the UN needs to hear you out. I’ll take the patch.” If nothing else, it’ll be worth it to get rid of this underlying itch to head north. “But to be honest, I’m still not sure I understand how another species could look at ours and not acknowledge our sentience. Our language, technology, ethics, cities, and science all point to a high level of consciousness.”
Vili responded while retrieving a black square from a dial he had in his pocket. “Olympians view you closer to the animals that live on Earth than civilians in Olympia. As a group, you’ve been described as primarily driven by instinct and emotion with the ability to reason, but the lacking to understand its application.”
Lugh interrupted: “Like a rhesus monkey exhibiting the understanding to use a rock to open a coconut, but applying the flattened side instead of the pointed one.”
Wen Shi winced, the man had made a rather cogent analogy. Given her profession, she was already acutely aware human reasoning was rarely used to come to genuine conclusions; rather, it was largely used to justify emotional responses and push social agendas. She turned back to Vili as he continued. “You certainly have the capacity to build shiny toys and explore the universe mathematically, but your minds primarily run on ancient programming. You’re barely treading water in the pool of consciousness, struggling to progress and navigate through the harsh waves of abstract logic and reality. Your minds aren’t free. At least, that’s what the Council claims.”
Wen Shi smiled. Vili and Sigyn had certainly argued well, but it was the quick comment from her fellow human that had ultimately convinced her. To a race as ancient and powerful as the Olympians, Earth’s inhabitants, and all of their technological and ethical advances, were nothing more than monkeys playing with rocks—and they weren’t even doing that efficiently. Wen Shi reached for the patch and sighed, “Well, when you put it that way…” she put the patch on her tongue and braced herself against its anticipated effects.
Sigyn brought up a few mundane questions, likely in an effort to distract. Wen Shi spoke to her, letting her know she had neither siblings nor father and was currently an Associative Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Before long, a headache crept out from her brain stem and she decided to lie down.
* * *
Sigyn watched as Wen Shi shut the bedroom door behind her.
Vili flashed a brief frown. “Let’s hope her experience is better than Lugh’s.”
“My headache didn’t come until much later, so who knows? Maybe she’ll skip a lot of the pain before that.”
Sigyn was not without concern for her new companion’s comfort, but she had other matters on her mind, among them the brutal Olympian she had encountered in Peru. “Vili, now that we have two Descendants, are we going to start our contact with this COPUOS body? How are we going to handle Atlas and the other Olympian, assuming they survived their encounter with Skadi?”
“There isn’t much we can do about the crashed Olympian, for now. As far as Atlas is concerned, I think we need to draw him to Iceland. I’m not sure what equipment—if any—he has on Earth to monitor and track flights. It’s possible he knows you’re here. I’ll need to spend some time at your landing site and think about our options. While I work on that, I think you and the Descendants should start working with COPUOS.”
“What? You’re saying you want to take on Atlas alone?”
Vili raised and clenched his carbon alloy hand. “Yes. This adamant was given to me for a reason. I’d prefer to have Loki’s help, but I’ll do what needs to be done. If I can’t beat Atlas—or if he kills me—we’ll need to move to plan B and bring Skadi’s forces down here.”
Sigyn would have argued a little more, but she knew by his voice that his mind was made up. “Understood.”
“Good. Lugh, anything interesting reported since I left?” Vili asked.
Lugh fumbled with the remote control device to bring the sound back up on the black relay box. “No. Nothing new.”
“COPUOS wants everyone to stay calm over the new broadcast coming from Angola. We have no evidence it’s real and, even if it is, we still have yet to make any official communication with an extraterrestrial.”
All three of them fixed their eyes to the illuminated screen, or more specifically, the chyron at the bottom showing the text from the new broadcast: “I am one of the creatures of unspeakable power that’s observing you, but my race does it for your safety. There is a third race on Earth. They are claiming to defend you, but instead are here to deceive you. Check behind the moon.”
Vili spoke as the last of the words scrolled across the screen. “Whoever crashed in the Atlantic is not just alive, but they are calling us out.”
“They’re bluffing. There’s no way they know why we’re here,” Sigyn said, looking at Vili.
“Whatever they know, they’ve deduced enough to realize we don’t want chaos. Sigyn, we need to contact the COPUOS group right now, even if Atlas or the other Olympian can somehow track the call. They’ll likely need convincing whenever you contact them, so use what you know.” Vili turned to grab his bag. “I’ll be monitoring for activity in the skies. I’ll use the ship you left hidden in the cliffs as bait
if I need to.”
“Wait! Vili, you’re leaving me alone?” Sigyn asked.
“I have to. I’ll make sure this area stays safe. Don’t allow COPUOS to send anyone out here. Tell them you’ll meet them within the week at a specific time and location—work with Lugh and Wen Shi to determine something. You’ll all need to take normal human transportation there—you have to avoid drawing attention to yourselves.” Vili turned to leave.
“Vili! Take my phone. We can buy a few burner ones, but this way we can stay in contact with you,” Lugh yelled.
Vili inspected Lugh’s phone. “Is this trackable?”
“I don’t think so—here, I’ll turn off all location services and maps. Keep it off. Maybe turn it on once a day at night so you can see if we’ve contacted you?” Lugh quickly began to run through how to work the device.
Vili grabbed him by the shoulder and looked him in the eye. “You do have a warrior’s mind. Don’t forget that.” He turned toward the door and this time, he did leave.
Act II, Chapter 13
Invitation
Location: Angola, Africa
Athena felt refreshed after her brief repose. She awoke right before dusk and decided to avoid wasting time at the caves. I think the sparse vegetation will be sufficient for rations until I can get to a city or somewhere to hunt. She decided to head north along the coast to find a town instead of walking inland, as all she saw inland were rocks, mountains, and deserts bathed in heat.
The Gods Who Chose Us Page 25